Moving

Originally the plan was pack all of our belongings on Monday the 27th and leave for Rexburg the 28th. But upon checking weather reports we packed in a whirlwind and left Monday night. We stayed in Pocatello Monday night with Tony's aunt Carol. Tuesday morning we left for Rexburg and arrived in town around 10:00 in the morning. Once we inspected our apartment and worked out some kinks we started moving our things into our 800 sq. ft. apartment. Honestly Tony, Perry, and my cousin's husband did most of the work. But by around 4 in the afternoon we had everything inside the apartment. I'm sure imagining everything put in it's place with curtains hung and decorations gracing the walls...well don't. By my saying everything was inside the apartment means that everything we own was stacked in piles about the apartment will paths leading to the kitchen, bathroom, and bedrooms. By that night we were all so tired and hungry we went out to eat and soaked in a hot tub at the hotel Perry and Alice stayed in. We then came home to and crashed into bed. Yesterday we spent the day unpacking. Yet again Tony did most of the work because I'm still dealing with morning sickness. I did what I could between running to the bathroom to throw up. Today will be another day filled with unpacking and hopefully well get mostly everything put in it's place. I hope that I'll feel well enough to be of some use today. The last two days here in Rexburg have been filled with cold, wind and snow. We just about froze our butts off last night when we went to the store. Hopefully we'll get used to the bitter cold weather sooner rather than later. Well I have boxes and a husband calling my name. More updates and pictures to follow.

Morning Sickness

We've known for a few weeks now that we're expecting again and the morning sickness has come on full force! Last week wasn't so bad, but the last few days have been awful. Yesterday I threw up twice and spent most of the day on the couch. I wasn't able to go to work because I was so weak. Thankfully I have my mom to help me. She's been wonderful helping with the kids and doing most of the cooking. I don't know how I'm going to make it through without her once we move which is in less than two weeks. Yesterday morning as I was praying to the porcelain gods I thought to myself, "I am never doing this again!" Honestly I may change my mind if I ever start feeling better, but at this point I'm questioning my sanity when deciding to have another child. Why do I always forget how awful pregnancy can be until I'm going through it again? For me morning sickness isn't just in the morning, it's all day everyday for a least 6 weeks! The only relief I get is when I'm sleeping, so I do a lot of it.

Morning Sickness

Well we've know that we're expecting for less than a week and I'm already feeling the effects. I'm very tired and have that icky feeling in my stomach most of the day. So far I've been able to keep it under control and have managed to not go running to the bathroom yet. Sunday I was craving pizza horribly! So for lunch on Monday I stopped off at Little Ceasers for a pizza and it was wonderful! I ate 3 pieces and here at 10:00 in the morning on Tuesday I'm having another piece, and it's the best thing ever! I'm starting to see a pattern here and may have to keep and good stock of pizza in the house for the next 8 months.

Baby #3

We found out this week that I'm expecting again. I'm excited and nervous at the same time. Excited to have a sweet little baby around the house again and nervous because of the upcoming changes and praying for a way to provide for our growing family. According to my calculations, via the Internet, my due date will be August 3, 2011. Once we move I'll find a doctor/midwife and find out for sure. So far no major sickness. I'm trying to stay in front of that and starting to eat as much as I can right now. We'll see if it works.

Turkey Trot

Thanksgiving morning Tony and I participated in a 5K Turkey Trot with some of his other family members. It was in honor of Tony's aunt Mary Woodbury who is fighting breast cancer. It was bitterly cold, I think 9 degrees when we started. But we braved the cold and snow and did our best. I came in dead last but at least I finished.

Green Gables

Well we put down a deposit on an apartment this last weekend. It's the Green Gables apartments that I already posted a link to. It's going to be tight....really tight but it's clean, ground level, and not a total dump. Like some others that we looked at. We'll be signing a 6 month lease so hopefully when the lease is up we'll be able to move into a bigger place. We actually found a bigger place that we really wanted, but someone else got to it before we did. I was pretty bummed. Oh well...so it about 5 weeks we'll be official Rexburgatonians.

Another Round of Sickness

Last week Alaina came down with a cold. A few days later my mom and I came down with it. Today Tony is home sick with it too. It's never fun to be sick but at least most of us are getting it out of the way before Thanksgiving next week.

Apartment Hunting

The last few weeks I've been searching for an apartment over in Rexburg. The moving day is getting ever closer and it would be very convenient for us to actually have a place to move into when we get there. Tony has pretty much left it up to me to find our new abode. It hasn't been easy. First, I've only lived in an apartment once in my life, and that was when I was going to school at BYU-Idaho before Tony and I got married. I only lived there for 3 months, so I feel kind of ignorant as far as apartment living goes. Second, it's difficult to decide that a place is conducive for our family from pictures and information over email. Third, it just makes me nervous to make this big of a decision. But Tony has reassured me that we only have to be in this first apartment for 6 months to a year. I guess I can endure anything for that long. I've been pretty discouraged the last few weeks as I've been searching because nothing seemed to fit. But last week I finally just bit the bullet and applied to an apartment that looked nice. It's called the Green Gables Apartments. Today I found out that we've been approved. So I guess we'll just see what happens from here. I keep praying that Heavenly Father will guide us and provide a way for us to get to Rexburg. Things haven't been easy in the least bit, but they're starting to fall into place. So in about 6 weeks we'll be moving to Rexburg. Whether to this apartment or someplace else I don't know. I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens.

Here is the link to the apartment we've been approved for.

http://rentmaster.us/rentals/Idaho/Rexburg/Apartment-Unfurnished/5749/

The Big Six!

Yesterday was Carson's 6th Birthday. It was pretty low key with all the other Halloween festivities I just couldn't do a huge party. But he was excited and happy about his birthday anyway.

He got a "Nurf" type gun from Grandma and Grandpa Elton.
New cloths from Grandma and Grandpa Foster, Iron Hide Transformer from Mom and Dad, and his own real tools from Mom and Dad. He is constantly "borrowing" his Dad's tools to "fix" things around the house, so now he has his own. I'm sure there will be a lot more things around the house that will be "fixed" now.

Halloween

Halloween was busy this year. Two Trunk or Treats, carving pumpkins and a Birthday. Carson dressed up as Iron Man this year, which was ridiculously difficult to find in his size, and Alaina was Cinderella. They were both adorable!

On Saturday we went to my brother's ward to join in the fun with them. In this picture is Carson (Iron Man), Mason (Dragon), Alaina (Cinderella), and Brady (Spiderman). It was a crazy type of fun.
Carson with his pumpkin which is the smaller one. Mine is the bigger one. It was supposed to be a mummy but turned out to be more of a Picasso.
Alaina with her pumpkin.

And here is Carson and Alaina together. What cuties!

Halloween Cakes

Here are some Halloween themed cakes I made for our ward Trunk or Treat/ Harvest party tonight. These cakes are a new record for me. I baked, made frosting, frosted and decorated both cakes in 2 hours! Go me!

The Hunt Begins

As many of you may know Tony will be attending BYU-Idaho in January. The last couple months we've been living with my parents in Meridian. We've been able to rent out our home to some nice people who are taking great care of our house! The exciting news is that Tony's financial aid has finally been awarded! So that means that we can start the search for a place over in Rexburg. It's a scary task. First of all I've never had to search for an apartment before and it makes it difficult when we're not there to go look at these places. So most of our search will be done mostly via craigslist and email. Which is another reason I'm nervous. I just pray that we will be lead to a place that we can make into our new home.

Piano for Sale

We're selling our upright piano. $100 OBO. It needs a little TLC. Let me know if your interested.

Cake for Perry

I know that the decorating on this cake is nothing spectacular, but it tasted great! Red velvet cake, fudge filling and chocolate frosting. A perfect combination!

Hiking to Blue Lake

A few weeks ago while visiting my parents cabin in High Valley, Tony, the kids, and I hiked to Blue Lake. It was beautiful! The weather was perfect and the kids loved playing with the millions of frogs.

Blue Lake. Just Beautiful!
Carson with one of the may frogs he caught and played with.
Alaina taking off her shoes to wade in the water.
Tony did go for a swim in the lake. It was little too cold for me.
The kids and I on the trail, which was straight down going in and straight up going out. Too bad it wasn't the other way around. I would have been happy to jump in the lake after hiking up that hill.

Tooth number two

Carson can now sing "All I want for Christmas is my Two Front Teeth".

Alaina's 3rd Birthday

Last night we celebrated Alaina's 3rd Birthday. She's all girl and here is the princess with all her loot. Two Cinderella dolls, princess accessories, and some new cloths.

This is the cake I made for her. It may not be perfect, but she sure thought it was neat.
Even though my baby is growing up and we are entering the horrid threes, I love her so much and feel blessed to have her a part of our family.

Toothless

Carson lost his first tooth this morning, or should I say mom got tired of his tooth hanging out of his mouth and pulled it out this morning. Thankfully no tears and he's pretty excited for the tooth fairy to come tonight. The lost tooth is already safe and under his pillow. What a big boy I've got!

Carson's Second Day of School

Yes, I'm a horrible mother and didn't get a picture of Carson on the first day of school, so the second day will have to do.

Update

I've been feeling like an update has been needed so here it is. Tony, the kids, and I moved out of our home in Nampa about two weeks ago. We are currently staying in Meridian with my parents in Meridian until something develops in Rexburg so we can move there for Tony to start school in January. Carson has been in school for two weeks now. He has had a difficult time adjusting to all the changes that have been taking place, but I think he's finally settling down into our life here. He has his good days and his bad days at school and I hope that the more we get into the school year the more good days he'll have. Alaina doesn't seem to have been affected much by the change in venue. Honestly I think she enjoys Grandma's house because of the unlimited cartoons (Grandma has cable t.v.). Not that I let her watch cartoons all day. I've enjoyed having my mom close at hand. It's nice to have someone else to help with the cooking, cleaning and mothering. It's also nice to have some adult conversation throughout the day. We've all managed to keep busy these last weeks with many trips to Nampa to get the house ready for renters. We've spent a lot of time cleaning. Last Saturday we had a yard sale and painted almost the entire interior with the help of Tony's parents. Honestly they did most of the painting, which we really appreciated. So for the most part the house is ready and we've got a couple of prospective renters. So things are moving along and we along with them.

Changes

The last couple of weeks have been interesting for me. Filled with school preparation for Carson, packing, working, and normal day-to-day life. The last few weeks have been filled with sorrow and happiness too. The sorrow is for all the family and friends around me dealing with mental, physical, and spiritual trials. The happiness is for all the new beginnings. As many of you know we are renting out our home in Nampa. When I think of leaving this home, tears come to my eyes. Tony and I bought this house a week before we got married 7 1/2 years ago. This home is where I was a newlywed. This home is where I brought home my babies. This is where I've spent my whole married life. So many memories. Honestly I never thought we would be here for so long. When we bought our "starter home", it was supposed to be just that, "We'll be here for a few years and then we'll move on to something bigger and better" is what I thought. But life happens and you make due with what you have. Now with the prospect of leaving, my heart is heavy. It is just a house, but it is our house, our home. I just pray that we'll find someone who will take good care of it while we are away. Next week we'll be moving in with my parents in Meridian. I have mixed feelings about living with Mom and Dad. First I'm excited to be able to spend quality time with them. Developing a deeper relationship with them that isn't just a parent/child relationship, but a friend/friend relationship. Being able to share my family with them before we move on and have someone to share the responsibilities of caring for a home with. Second, I'm a little apprehensive about living with them again. I am not the same Angie as I was 8 years ago when I left there. Honestly my Mom and Dad have changed too in the last 8 years. Will the Angie of today be able to coexist with the Mom and Dad of today? I am grateful to my parents for being generous to my family and allowing us to stay with them until we move on. I pray that Heavenly Father will bless all of us with his spirit that the next few months will be an enjoyable time and one that we look back on with fondness. So, changes happen to all of us. Some of them are of our own doing and some are not. I guess the best thing to do when faced with changes is to try having a positive outlook on life and take one day at a time. Right now I'm so busy packing and getting the house ready for us to leave that I haven't had a lot of time to dwell on it all. I'm sure that will come, but for now...I have some more packing to do.

Alaina's First Ride

Lagoon

This last weekend we went to Lagoon! Tony and the kids had never been and I hadn't been since I was a teenager. We all had tons of fun! The kids went on every ride they were tall enough to ride. I'll tell you these kids of mine had no fear when it came to these rides. My dad would be proud. Tony and I spent the morning with the kids and in the afternoon Grandma watched the kids so Tony and I could ride some of the bigger rides. Then in the evening we all came back together for some more fun. Unfortunately we didn't get a lot of pictures because it eventually got annoying to carry bags around the park, because you can't take any bags on most of the rides. So here are some of the kids.

Carson and Alaina.
Me and Carson
Alaina

I would have to say that the rides "Wicked" and "Samari" were my favorite. My throat still hurts from screaming so loud! The weather mostly cooperated. It rained, thundered, and lighteninged a little bit in the afternoon, but eventually it blew over and we were able to continue having fun. We stayed all day! From opening to close. We were all exhausted, our feet killed, and heads pounded, but we had smiles on our faces as we left. What a wonderful memory for our family and we look forward to someday going back.

Daddy's little Girl

This is such a sweet picture that I had to steal it from Maegen's blog. It totally captures the type of relationship Tony and Alaina have.

Pictures of the Inside

The view from the front door.
The kitchen/dinning area.
Master Bedroom.
Bedroom #1
Bedroom #2

Here is a picture of our house. I'll try and post some of the inside as soon as I can.

Our Home

We'll the decision has been made to rent out our home. Tony will be starting school in January and we'd like to get some things payed off before then and with school starting soon for Carson we'd like to get some renters into our home A.S.A.P. It's a split 3 bedroom, 2 bath home, great room with vaulted ceiling, pantry in the kitchen, laundry room off the garage , 2 car garage, and fully fenced back yard with a shed. It's almost 8 years old and we've been the only owners. It located at a dead end road in the Kings Road Estates Subdivision in Nampa. It's really close to Parkridge Elementary School, the Freeway, Walmart, Idaho Center, and CWI. Please let us know if you or anyone you know would be interested. Thanks.

I'll try to post pictures once I can get our dang camera to connect to our computer! Grrrr!

Elton Reunion 2010

Last weekend was the annual Elton Family Reunion. We went camping above Anderson Ranch at Dog Creek Campground. The campground was beautiful, shady, and clean. The weather was great! Cool in the mornings, hot in the afternoon (so we could go swimming at the lake), and warm evenings. We really didn't need to have a fire each evening but we did. What is camping without a fire, right? We did have a rain/thunderstorm come through Saturday night though. We went hiking, exploring on the 4 wheelers, swimming, and had some family activities which including baseball with pools as the bases and making sea worthy boats out of cardboard, plastic bags, and noodle floties. Ours didn't do so well. I was the one in the "boat" and couldn't keep it balanced enough to even think of paddling it. It ended up being a big pile of soggy wet cardboard and plastic bags. It was fun though. Unfortunately sometime between leaving Thursday night and Friday morning our camera's battery went completely dead, so no pictures. It was a good weekend, aside from the Nazi campground host, but I won't go into that. :)

Camping part two

On Sunday we all made boats to float down the river. We used grass, bark, pine cones, leaves, wood, fruit, and fishing line to make them with. It was fun to see all the different creations. Of course Dad and Tony's were the most elaborate, but we all had fun.
Alaina, just being cute.
Mom enjoying the fresh air and sunshine.

Camping

Over the 4th of July we went camping above Anderson Ranch with Tony's family. We had lots of fun! It has been the first time in 2 years we've been real camping! The kids had tons of fun playing in the dirt, water, on the 4 wheeler and anything else they could find. Even though it was a cooler weekend we still went "chunky dunking". This is a tradition with Tony's family. Instead of "skinny dipping" we go "chunky dunking". It's always at night after little kiddos go to bed and the water is usually really cold, but it's always fun and invigorating. Plus we always wear our swimsuits (I just wanted to clarify this one detail. This is a family friendly blog after all.) So here are some pictures our weekend.

Alaina getting ready to go 4 wheeling.
Carson and his cousin Caleb being cool and ready to ride!
It may not look like it from this picture but Maegen seemed to have a good time. :)
Nathan, just chillin.
And no picture would be complete without Rachel sticking out her tongue. There are more pictures of the weekend which will have to come in part two.

Baby Bird

Yesterday, I was doing some work outside. A mother bird was really close to the house. They usually stay in the bush that is in the empty lot next to our house. I thought it was odd that this bird was so close to the house. I continued with what I was doing and saw something move, and run along the house. I followed it and found this little baby bird hiding in the tall grass. It was just a tiny little thing. I showed it to Carson and he thought it was pretty cool to see it so close. I know it's kind of silly to get so excited about a baby bird, but how often do you fine one in your flower bed?

Too Cute!

This last weekend our family made a trip over to Rexburg, Id to figure some stuff out before school starts. Thanks to our friend Max we got a great Hotel room for cheap. The first night it was just too sweet to see the kids asleep and holding hands. For the most part it was a good weekend full of talking to a school counselor and apartment hunting. Unfortunately, we weren't able to look inside any place (because everyone was closed on Saturday) but we were able to weed out a lot. The kids favorite part of the weekend was swimming in the Hotel pool and seeing Toy Story 3. But I have no idea why they didn't have fun walking all over campus on Friday and sitting in the truck all day Saturday looking at apartments. :)

Zoo Field Trip

Last week Carson's preschool group took a field trip to the Boise Zoo.

Here are all the kids. A lot of the preschoolers brother's and sister's came to join in the fun.
Carson and Alaina.
Let's take a ride!

Shoshone Falls

A few weeks ago we took a quick trip to Pocatello for Tony's cousin's wedding. We stopped to see Shoshone Falls as we all needed a break and since I had never seen them. Yes it's true. I've lived in Idaho for 25 years and have never seen Shoshone Falls. I have to say that they were beautiful! I wish that we had more time to spend there.

Alaina's happy face and crazy hair. Unfortunately she's inherited my curly, frizzy hair. It's difficult to keep a two year old's hair under control anyway, I guess.
Yes, one of the few pictures of me.
The Falls.
Carson and Alaina.